[N]ew Thunderbolt-enabled Sandy Bridge MacBook Air models expected to go into production this month have been ready and waiting for some time, according to people familiar with the matter. But management is currently unwilling to usher the new models into the market with the current Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system.

Instead, the Mac maker is said to be locked on waiting till it can image the new notebooks with a Gold Master build of Lion so that buyers are afforded the latest and greatest Apple experience. This includes complimentary iCloud services that will come built into the software, offering a means of automatic data synchronization that is both unparalleled in the computing industry, and paramount in an age when consumers are adopting a digital lifestyle in which they own and operate multiple mobile devices.

The MacBook Air’s not the only Mac waiting on Lion before it gets sent out to the Apple Store: new Mac Minis featuring Sandy Bridge innards and ThunderBolt ports are also in the same boat, as well as new Cinema Displays.

Depressing news if you’re waiting to pull the trigger on a new Mac, but if it’s any consolation, I’m using Lion right now: it’s this close to prime time.

I’ve been waiting for 8 months to buy a Mac Mini with a better processor. Here’s hoping this rumor has some juice.

Barton Lynch

I wish they would make the bezel around the Air black, like EVERY SINGLE OTHER APPLE PRODUCTI mean really

About the author

John Brownlee is a Contributing Editor. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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